Plans are afoot for a spacious lobby/gallery; dressing rooms; two theaters, one seating about 45 and the other seating 75; classroom space for Andrew Thornton's acting studio; and a shop where sets can be built. There's also some storage space out back and a large parking lot adjoining the property.

“It's a huge step up for us,” Gillette said.

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Even the roof seems promising, said executive director Michael Burger. After climbing up there to take a look around, he reported that it was flat enough to make for an interesting performance space, depending on what kind of permits are required to make that happen.

The drop ceilings inside will be yanked out, giving them some height in the theaters. That means Overtime will be able to have multilevel sets, something that was impossible in Blue Star.

“We have talented designers,” Burger said. “It'll be nice to give them less limitations.”

They'll also be working with some new equipment. Trinity University, where Gillette is on the faculty, donated a high-end light board. Had they purchased the board new, it would have cost about $70,000, Gillette said.

Having two theaters will make it a little easier for the company to rehearse several things at once and to nurture the development of new work. It also means they can host other troupes — Proxy Theatre Company, which has spent its first full season wandering from stage to stage, is the first to come aboard — as well as individuals who want to present work on their own.

“We're an artists' space, and we want to help artists,” Burger said.

The larger theater will be named for playwright Gregg Barrios, who donated $7,500 for naming rights during Overtime's recent fund drive to finance the big move.

The theater's first full production in the new space will be Barrios' “i-DJ.” It's slated to open in early July.

Renovations are expected to take about a month, though Scott McDowell, the theater's technical director, expects to have enough of it done to host an improv night in about two weeks.

The theater's guiding forces are cooking up all sorts of new ideas for the space, including a new serial. They've had a lot of success with the McDowell-penned sci-fi/comedy serial “The Adventures of Captain Cortez and the Tri-Lambda Brigade”; they are looking to add a second serial, which would unspool in weekly 20-minute installments.

McDowell would map out the story arc, and then other writers and directors would step in to make it happen.